Antenna mast support



Feb. 27, 1962 w, w s 3,022,970

ANTENNA MAST SUPPORT Filed Feb. 9, 1960 INVENTOR. 39 w/u MIM 5. W4T/r/NJ 4 T TOP/v5 v5 ttes This invention relates to devices forsupporting antenna masts, and more particularly to an antenna mastsupport adapted to be mounted on a chimney.

The main object of the invention is to provide a novel and improvedantenna mast support for securing a vertical antenna mast to a chimney,the support being simple in construction, being easy to install, andproviding a rigid connection of the antenna mast to the chimney.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved antenna mastsupport adapted to secure a vertical antenna mast rigidly and in spacedrelation to a chimney, the mast support being inexpensive to fabricate,being durable in construction, and being arranged so that it can berapidly installed on a chimney with a minimum amount of labor andwithout requiring the use of fastening bolts or similar threaded ordetachable fastening elements.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparentfrom the following description and claims, and from the accompanyingdrawings, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an improved antenna mast supportdevice constructed in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the antenna mastsupporting device illustrated in FIG- URE 1.

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view, partly in horizontal cross section, of theantenna mast device of FIGURES 1 and 2, showing the manner in which avertical antenna mast is clamped to the device.

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken substantially on theline 4-4 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged vertical cross sectional view takensubstantially on the line 5-5 of FiGURE 2.

FiGURE 6 is a fragmentary side elevational view showing the manner inwhich a tensioning tool is employed to move the antenna mast lockingbail employed with the device of FIGURES 1 to 5 to its clampingposition.

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary perspective view of a tensioning tool whichmay be employed in mounting the device of FIGURES 1 to 5 on a chimney.

Referring to the drawings, 11 generally designates an antenna mastsupport device according to the present invention. The device 11comprises a substantially rigid corner piece, designated generally at12, consisting of a pair of rigid abutment bars 13 and 14 which areformed with respective connecting bar portions 15 and 16 which aresuitably fastened together in any appropriate manner, for example, bywelding or by the use of rivets, or the like. As shown in dotted view inFIGURE 1, the abutment bars 12 and 13 may be bent from the dotted Viewpositions to the full line positions illustrated in FIGURE 1, namely, topositions wherein said abutment bars are substantially at right anglesto each other with the rigidly joined bar elements 15 and 16 projectingfrom the apex of the rightangled structure defined by members 12 and 13.The abutment bars 12 and 13 are formed with apertures 18 through whichsuitable nails 19 or similar anchoring members may be driven to anchorthe bars 12 and 13 to the surface of a wallwhen the device is beinginstalled as a wall mount.

A flexible metal fastening strap 21 is connected to the end of theabutment bar 13 by a conventional fastening sleeve 22, the end of thestrap being looped through a slot 23 provided in the end of the abutmentbar 13 and being engaged in the buckle 22 in a conventional manner tosecure the strap to the member 13. Pivoted to the'opposite end of thefastening strap 21 is an arcuate resilient bail member 24, the bailmember being pivotally connected to the strap by means of a loop 25formed in the end of the strap and secured in a conventional manner by afastening sleeve 26 similar to the fastening sleeve 22. I V

The resilient bail member 24 has arcuately curved parallel side arms anda straight transverse bight portion 30 connecting the free ends of saidside arms, whereby the bail member is longitudinally yieldable inresponse to tension exerted on said bight portion.

The end portion of the abutment bar 14 is formed with a vertical slot 28adapted to slidably receive the strap 21 in the manner illustrated inFIGURE 3. Designated at 29 are a plurality of inclined anchor lugsformed on the outer surface of the abutment bar 12, said anchor lugsbeing spaced along the abutment bar in the manner illustrated in FIGURE3. The outer transverse bar element 3% of the bail member 24 is adaptedto be lockingly engaged with a selected one of the anchor lugs 29.

Designated generally at 31 is a tensioning tool which may be employed toapply suflicient tension to the strap member 21 to assure that ittightly and smoothly engages around the chimney, shown at 32, beforebeing fastened.

to the abutment bar 14. Thus, the tool 31 comprises an elongated shank33 to which is pivotally connected at tensioning arm 33' provided with apair of arcuately curved spaced parallel hook members 34 and 35 and'with a pair of transversely extending fingers 36, 36

mounted on the hook element 34, the strap member 21 being adapted to beloopedaround the fingers 36, 36 in the manner illustrated in dotted viewin FIGURE 7. The tool is further provided with an integral arcuatelycurved strut member 37 at the end of the shank 33 arranged in spacedrelation to the hook elements 35 and 36, as shown in FIGURE 7, and whichmay be employed as a fulcrum. A transverse pivot bolt 38 secures theshank 33 between a pair of spaced, supporting lugs 39, 39 provided onarm 33'. I

The bar member 15 is formed with a plurality of longitudinally spacedapertures 17 in which the end of the strut member 37 is selectivelyinsertable to provide a fulcrum for the tensioning tool. Thus, the strapmember 21 may be first stretched by engaging the hook elements 34 and 35in the bail 24, and inserting the end of the strut member 37 in aselected aperture 17, after which the tool 31 may be rotated in acounterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 3, to apply tension tothe strap member 21. Thereafter, the transversely extending bar element30 of the bail member 24- may be slipped past one of the lugs 29 and maybe allowed to lockingly engage with the selected lug to secure the strapmember 21 tightly to the chimney 32 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE3. The hook-like fingers 34 and 35 are spaced apart sufliciently toreceive the strap member 21 therebetween with said members 34 and 35engaged with the transverse bight element 30 of the bail 24.

As above mentioned, the strap 21 may be stretched prior to being formedwith its end loop 25 by employing the anchoring fingers 36, 36 to holdthe end of the strap member while tension is being applied thereto.After the strap member has been suitably stretched, the bail member 24may be fastened in the looped end of the strap member and the sleeve 26may be applied to secure the bail member to the strap member.

As will be readily understood, when the tool 31 is employed in themanner above described for engaging the bail member 24 with the selectedanchor lug 29, the bight portion 30 of the bail member is moved in adirection toward the outwardly extending bar members 15 and 16 allowingsaid bight portion to cammingly engage over the lugs 29 until sufiicienttension has been developed in the strap member 21. The 'tool 31 may thenbe sufiiciently released to allow. the bight element 30 of the bailmember 24 to lockingly engage with the proper lug 29 to maintain thedesired clamping tension in the strap member 21.

As shown in FIGURE 4, the abutment bar 14 is curved outwardly at itsend, to define an arcuately curved lug 42, the guide slot 28 beingformed in said arcuately curved, outwardly projecting lug 42.

The outwardly projecting arm element 16 is formed at its end with anarcuately curved wing member 43 which is outwardly convex and which isformed with a plurality of locking lugs 44 spaced along the wing memberand extending generally toward the rigid corner piece defined by the barmembers 13 and 14. The inside surface of the wing member 43 ispreferably roughened, as shown at 45, to increase its clamping frictionWith respect to an antenna mast 46 received within the wing member 43.The end of the adjacent arm element 15 is formed with an arcuatelycurved, relatively short wing member 47 which substantially forms acontinuation of the arc defined by the wing member 43, as shown inFIGURE 3. Designated at 48 is a resilient bail member of generallycurved configuration which is pivotally connected at 49 to the arcuatewing member 47, the bail member 48 being curved so that it is clampinglyengageable around an antenna mast 46 in the manner illustrated in FIGURE3. Thus, the bail member 48 comprises an arcuate portion 50 ofrelatively short radius, located adjacent the pivotal connection 4d, andan additional outer arcuate portion 51 of relatively large radius,merging with the inner bail portion 50. As shown in FIGURE 6, the bailmember 48 normally has a generally hooklike configuration in sideelevation, the outer portion 51 thereof being adapted to be flexedaround the antenna mast 46 to assume the final configuration shown inFiGURE 3.

The arcuate portion 50 of the resilient bail member has arcuate parallelside arms resiliently yieldable in the direction of their length inresponse to tension exerted on the bight portion of the bail member.

.In clamping the mast 46 to the members 43 and 47, the tensioning tool3t is employed, the outwardly extending bar member 16 being providedwith a plurality of longitudinally spaced fulcrum openings 55 in whichthe strut member 37 of the tool may be inserted to provide the necessaryfulcrum for the tool. Thus, as shown in FIGURE 6, the strut member 37 isengaged in a selected opening 55 and the hook elements 35 and 34 areengaged with the outer bight portion of the bail member 48. The tool isthen rotated in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in FIGURE 6,causing the bail 48 to be engaged around the antenna 'mast 46, andallowing the transversely extending outer bight portion 56 of the bailto cammingly slip past'the locking lugs 44 on the convex outer surfaceof the wing member 43 until the desired amount of tension has beendeveloped in the bail member 48 to securely clamp the mast 46 to thewing members 43 and 47. The transversely extending outer bight element56 of the bail member may then be allowed to lockingly engage with theselected locking lug 44 to retain the bail member in the clampingposition thereof illustrated in FIGURE 3.

As will be readily apparent, the only tool required in mounting thedevice on the chimney and in securing the antenna mast 46 to the wingelements 43 and 47 is the tensioning tool 31, and it is not necessary toemploy any threaded or similar fastenings in mounting the antenna mastin its desired position.

While a specific embodiment of an improved antenna mast supportingdevice has been disclosed in the foregoing description, it will beunderstood that various modifications within the spirit of the inventionmay occur to those skilled in the art. Therefore, it is intended that nolimitations be placed on the invention except as defined by the scope ofthe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An antenna mast support comprising a substantially rigid cornerpieceadapted to fit'the vertical corner of a chimney, said corner piececomprising a pair of abutment bars arranged substantially at rightangles to each other, one of said bars being provided with a pluralityof spaced inclined anchor lugs, a flexible strap member secured to theother bar, a resilient arcuat'ely curved locking bail pivoted to the endof said strap member and being lockingly engageablewith a selected oneof said anchoring lugs, said locking bail having arcuately curvedparallel resilient side arms and a transverse bight portion connectingthe free ends of said side arms, said side arms being resilientlyyieldable in the direction of their length in response to tensionexerted on said bight portion, said one bar being formed with anapertured end lug slidably receiving and guiding said strap member, arigid arm projecting from the apex of said corner piece, a pair of wingelements on the end of said arm, one of said wing elements beingconcavely arcuately curved to receive an antenna mast, a plurality ofspaced locking lugs on the convex outer surface of said one wingelement, said lastnamed lugs being inclined toward said corner piece,and a second resilient arcuately curved bail member pivoted to the otherwing element and being lockingly engageable with a selected one of saidlast-named locking lugs to clamp the antenna mast to said wing elements,said lastnamed bail member having arcuately curved parallel resilientside arms including end portions of relatively short radius and atransverse bight member connecting said end portions, said end portionsbeing resiliently yieldable in the direction of their length responsiveto tension exerted on said last-named bight member.

'2. A mast support comprising a substantially rigid corner piece having,a pair of abutment bars arranged at a substantial angle to each other,one of said bars being provided with at least oneinclined anchor lug, aflexible strap member secured to the other bar, a resilient arcuatelycurved locking bail pivoted to the end of said strap member and beinglockingly engageable with the anchoringlug, said locking bail havingarcuately curved parallel resilient side arms and a transverse bightportion connecting the free ends of said side arms, said side arms beingresiliently yieldable in the direction of their length in response totension exerted on said bight portion, a rigid arm projecting from theapex of said corner piece, a pair of wing elements-on the end of saidarm, one of said wing elements being concavely arcuately curved toreceive a mast, at least one locking lug on the convex outer surface ofsaid one wing element, and a second resilient arcuately curved bailmember pivoted to the other wing element and being lockingly engageablewith-said last-named locking lug to clamp the mast to said Wingelements, said last-named bail member having arcuately curved parallelresilient side arms including end portions of relatively short radiusand a transverse bight member connecting said end portions, said endportions being resiliently yieldable in the direction of their lengthresponsive to tension exerted on said last-named bight-memher.

3. A mast support comprising a substantially rigid corner piece having apair-of abutment bars arranged at a substantial angle'to each other, oneof said bars being provided with at least one inclined anchor lug, aflexible strap member secured to the other bar, a resilient arcuatelycurved locking bail pivoted to the end of said strap member and beinglockingly engageable with the anchoring lug, said locking-bail havingarcuately curved parallel resilient side'arms'and a'transverse bightportion connecting the free ends of said side arms,-said side arms beingresiliently yieldable'in the direction oftheir length gageable with saidlast-named locking lug to clamp the 10 mast to said wing elements, saidlast-named bail member having arcuately curved parallel resilient sidearms including end portions of relatively short radius and a transversebight member connecting said end portions, said end portions beingresiliently yieldable in the direction of their length responsive totension exerted on said lastnamed bight member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 96,229Haring Oct. 26, 1869 181,949 Knowles Sept. 5, 1876 2,482,575 Cohn Sept.20, 1940 2,575,254 Blaugrund Nov. 13, 1951 OTHER REFERENCES Allied RadioCatalog No. 127, page 154, January 1952.

